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PH dollar reserves hit three-month high in June
The Philippines’ gross international reserves grew to a three-month high in June as deposits of the national government’s deposits with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) posted a net increase while income from overseas investments grew, data released by the central bank showed.
The gross international reserves (GIR) — a measure of the ability to settle import payments and service foreign debt — stood at $104.803 billion in June.
This is higher than the $103.987 billion in May, but lower than the $105.998 billion the same month last year. This is also the highest in three months since the GIR stood at $106.636 billion in March.
The latest reserves are estimated to be able to cover up to 6.8 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income, and can cover about 3.7 times the country’s short-term external debt based on residual maturity.
“The increase in reserves was mainly driven by the national government’s net foreign currency deposits with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), and BSP’s net income from its investments abroad,” the BSP said in a news release.
These were offset, however, by the downward valuation adjustments due to the changes in prices of the central bank’s gold holdings and foreign currency-denominated reserve assets, along with the drawdowns of the national government on its deposits to service debt.
Foreign currency deposits with the central bank increased to $2.297 billion in June from $831.7 million the previous month, while other reserve assets increased to $8.583 billion from $6.261 billion.
Gold holdings for the month fell to $17.194 billion from $19.480 billion in May, while the reserve position in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) increased to $724.6 billion from $712.2 billion.
Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) or the amount the country can tap from the IMF’s reserve currency declined to $17.194 billion from $19.480 billion the previous month. — RSJ, GMA News
